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I live in Round Rock. I typically keep my issued service monitor in my truck. PM me if you need help or duplexer tuning. I will say, highly recommend using a Band-Pass/Band-Reject type duplexer if your site is to be collocated with other UHF repeaters. I'd run a rtl_power plot for the repeater spectrum and see what comes out…I may do that (Brushy Creek area here) and see what I find. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That would actually be ideal. Your grounds should be as short as possible and a rod should be driven at the base of the tower to ground it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So here's what you are looking at from an average shop. $50/ hr in travel charge $100/hr tech time $150/hr system tech time (things like testing repeater, checking for desense, tuning duplexer) $200/hr engineering time (this will be the whole networking of the system) Plus, material. Then there is the whole networking aspect. IP? Link radios? Remember, hiring professional services means professional solutions so you'd be looking at NXU-2s and at a very minimum Ubiquiti PtP radios (assuming ISP connections are not available and LOS between sites is). You're likely looking at $1500 to $2000 to setup the repeater at your home and another $3000-$6000 for getting everything networked. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Laird FG45xx antennas. Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk

The thing I don't like about the antenna farm, stopped listing things as dBd or dBi. The antenna farm also resales directly off of Tessco for a good portion of their products. LMR antennas you can generally get much better pricing from Tessco or Hutton. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hard to go wrong with Laird. They've been in the LMR business for awhile. Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk

Mobile or base? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Keep it at 25W. GR1225's are notorious for burning up PA's. Out of curiosity, when was the last time the duplexer was checked for desense? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well go with trial and error. Like for weatherproofing connections, I much prefer Cell tape to butyl (coax seal). It's also easier to find as Ace and Tractor Supply often stock it as "Magic Tape". For line grounding, butyl is the best way to go though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Try manually jumping the PTT pin to ground on be Kenwood. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The problem with the Maxtrac, the PA actually backs down in power based on a timer in the logic board. The GM300 on the other hand used a thermistor to control power.

The M1225 won't hold up much better. Too small of a heat sink compared to its predecessors. There was a reason the R1225 was in a GM300/Radius chassis with appropriate heat sink compared to the predecessor repeaters and even it was known for failing. As far as the hamtronics receiver goes, on average they have 40 dB better adjacent channel rejection…so yea the have a lot going for them over a $100 mobile radio. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's doable. Right now you'd need a Maxon data radio with external sink for the transmit side and either another for receiver or a hamtronics receiver (about the best receiver that can practically be purchased right now). 30 ft of vertical separation and CAT5e to provide PTT, audio and COR as well as power (you'd want 24 or 48V for all intents and purposes). Still looking at $600 cost if the Maxon's were type accepted for GMRS. Add the cost of a duplexer and subtract the extra antenna and combine enclosures, you'd have a decent TTR. That's what it would cost with current tech in a reliable package though. In retrospective, Motorola sells a P25 tactical repeater (battery, duplexer at 4W) for $22,000. Etherstack on the other hand has one they are bringing to market for (15-30W depending on configuration) for $30,000. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

But often not followed on the business side. Public safety and trunk systems are generally better about IDing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Same repeater IIRC as the Ritron. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Simplex repeaters could be interesting if the receive and transmit tones were different. Essentially, subscribers RX on tone A and TX on Tone B. Repeater TX on tone A and RX on tone B. Keeps people from hearing the same thing twice. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Receivers don't actually require type acceptance for the service they are operated in. Only issues I've ever seen with part 90 equipment involved malicious/destructive interference from either a hams who assumed he was in the right because he had a general license or someone who just didn't care. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Motorola R1225. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Probably more experimentation going on the commercial side right now than anything. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Define 180° Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Does technology exist that will operate there, yes. However, there is a statement which only allows analog voice communication in Part 95. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Shop and personal radios are all XTS's still. Been sending more APX's out lately but we haven't gotten any for ourselves. GATRRS is a large system and it is potentially about grow in size even more with the addition of another sub-system (I think it is only a matter of time before most of the Motorola systems in the state become a single unified system). It'll be interesting to see how some of this comes out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Correct. One of the many reasons I settled on Simoco Xd infrastructure. Some of the others include analog to digital patching, digital to analog patching, full duplex calling in Tier II and Tier III and just the price point for Tier III operation compared to other Tier III offerings. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was sitting in Saginaw when that tornado hit. I remember driving down I35 to Austin and it was just a wall of north bound utility trucks. Fort Worth's setup is very similar, most of the talk groups are encrypted. Down here in the Austin area, GATTRS is a mix. Some are encrypted, others not. Sometimes it's dictated by the department (Round Rock PD for example) other times it's not. Sometimes it's dictated by other systems. One of the talk groups I utilize is tied to TxWARN and therefore has to be strapped secure. Now there are also interoperability talk groups (which number in the 30's which are clear). Theoretically once dispatched, traffic can move to an OPs TG but doesn't always happen so many departments choose to encrypt everything. In 800 MHz there are a handful of interoperability channels which are analog only (info is published in NIFOG). There are also some semi-new channels in 700 MHz which are Phase 1 only (clear). You might write your city management about the importance of disaster talk groups which can be tied in to in case of emergency which are clear. Make a stink about it. News agencies generally don't like being cut out of operations due to encryption either. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Haven't had a need to set up a repeater with app_rpt so I've never really messed with it. Asterisk I've dabbled with a little but commercially most linking is either done with native IP connections built into the repeaters or using products such as the NXU. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk